Self-contained lung-power breathing device



Dec. 18,1928. I I 1,695,537

. A. B. DRAGER I SELF CONTAINED LUNG POWER BREATl-iING DEVICE Filed Nov. 15. 1922 PQZQAM mama Dec. 1a, 1928. p

' nnienn, or LUBIOK, emaamntrnmnn nations, min

B'IAHGE, EXEOUTBIX OI SAD) DEKGEB, DECEASED.

f Lime-rowan Bamrnme nnvrcs.

Applieation-lled-Iovember 15,1928, Serial Ro. 001,030, and in Germany December 10, 1921.

present invention relates to a selfcontained" breathing device having a circuit 1 system for the-flow of the breathing air and comprisingessentially an air purifying cartsridge, a valve-casin containing suitable breathing valves.v and ucts, an,inhaling and an exhaling flexiblebreathm tube, an oxy-' gen cylinder and a breathing a and more particularly refersto improv means in connection and cooperation with the said device in order to provide the same with that amount of oxygen necessary for the actual breathing requirements of.the user of the device, and to obviate at the same time any overcharging of the breathing air with mtrogen;

There have alread become known selfcontained breathing evices in' which a certain constant amount of oxygen (say about 1.2 litres per minute) is-su phed into the air circuit system by means 0 a pressure reducing valve and in which besides that an additional amount of oxygen may be supplied by means of a manually actuated pressure but-- ton valve or the like of a by-pass conduit during the working periods which require a greater amount of oxygen. In these devices the flow of oxygen is to a certain degree at will and dependent on the practice of the operator. The danger with which these devices are afllicted and to which the users of such devices are constantly subjected, consists in the accumulation of nitrogen within the breathing bag in case the oxygen'used is not pure,. that is to say, contains morethan one half to one per cent of nitrogen. This danger of overchar the air with nitrogen may however be restricted or avoided by a frequent operation of the saidby-pass valve 0 in order to supply additional oxygen into the breathin bag or respectively to rinse the same by suc addition 0 gen. When the accumulation of nitrogen, at is to say, the overcharging of the air with nitrogen 15 to be avoided principally, a greater constant supply of oxygen sa from 1.5 to 1.8 litres per minute, must c own from the very beginning. In such a case the user of the device is receivin constantl an excess of breathing air and is compe ed to empty the breathing bag from time to time whereby the nitrogen accumulated therein is expelled together with a certain amount of oxygen which gets lost for the respiration. This loss of oxygm, due to untimely operatin'g'the by-pass 'ing devices with a lung-automatic oxygen 1liary breathing bag adapted to open a selfclosing'valvezmechanism of the oxygen supthe time and as often as the main breathing:

valve for additional oxygen supply or to a too great constant oxygen suppl may sometimes'be very considerable and orms a great drawback of this type of devices, which must therefore be furnished with greater oxygen cylinders whereby furthermore the total weight of the device will materially be in creased.

There are also known self-contained breathsupply such as described in my prior Patent No. 1,610,760, Dec. 14, 1926. In these devices there is arranged a lung-automatic oxygen supply contrivance, for example, an auxply p1pe.at the slightest sucking action in the air circuit system of the breathing device. The necessary sucking action takes place at 7 5" is fully emptied by inhalation which wi occur at about every sixth inhaling breath. The admission of oxygen takes place when-I ever the auxiliary bag or the valve mechanismis operated and that'so quickly and so abun" dantly that the lungs can fill themselves au-' tomatically according to the needs of respiration. It is due to the nature of the function of this breathing device that the stock of air in the main breathing bag is at no time 35 greater than the capacity of the lun s and that the said device must be worke with oxygen of high percentage and free from nitrogen, in order to obviate the dangerous overcharging of the air in the main breathing bag and the lungs with nitrogen. The special advantage of this breathing device which certainly compensates the drawback of a temporary vacuum in the air circuit system, is to be seen in that oxygen can get lost at no time,not even when the stop valve of the oxygen cylinder has been left open by inadvertence.

The improved breathing device forming the subject-matter of the present invention has come into existence b combining the two breathing devices a ve commented upon. This combination is entirely new and produces a device which keeps up the advantages of the said two known hreathin devices, but precludes the drawbacks o the same, and with this end in view my improved self-contained. breathing device consists in certain novelfeatures of construction and combinations of parts as will be herein fter 110 fully described and pointed out in the claim with reference to the accompanying sheet of drawings in which:

Fig. 1- is a diagrammatic view of a selfcontained' breathin device with lung-automatic ox gen supp y constructed in accordance wit and embodying a preferred embodiment of the invention, and

Fig. 2a similar view showing a modification of the device.

Similar letters of reference designate like parts throughout the fi ures.

To the breathing conduit Z) (Fig. 1) of the device is connected at (Z a breathing bag 8 of any approved construction. From the low pressure con'ipartmeut of the pressure reducing valve 9 connected to the oxygen cylinder f by a high pressure pipe e, a pipe at leads to the conduit b and another pipe 0 to a hoseshaped flexible auxiliar or supplemental bag 2' the other end of w ich is connected to a socket b of the conduit 6. In using the device a certain amount of oxygen, about 1 litre per minute, is constantly passing through the pipe a into the air circuit system of the devlce. This amount of .oxygen is not sufiicient for ordinary breathing requirements. The deficiency of oxygen is automatically admitted by the-supplemental bag according to the needs of respiration. Thissupplemental bag 2' with the aid of a control device located inside the supplemental bag 2' automatically regulates a suitable selfclosing stop valve w of the oxygen supply ipe c to permit the flow of a greater or esser uantity of oxygen into the-supplemental bag i and from thereinto the air circuit system of the breathing device. Ac-

cording to the type shown the control device consists of a fixed plate r and a movable plate t both of which are conveniently shaped-to the length of the s1?) lemental ag and together formv a sort 0 at beak, which is keptin an openor distended position through the operation of a sprin u located between. the beak-parts r and t. hen the movable plate t is rocked against the fixed plate 1- due to a contracting or collapsing of the supplemental bag 1' caused by want of air in the main breathing bag a, the stop valve :1: is opened accordingly. to supply instantaneously the requisite quantity of additional oxyen. g In the modification shown by Fig. 2 the additional oxygen is taken from the high pressure pipe e; the supply pipe 0 controlled by the stop valve :1: being connected directly to the pipe. 6. In this case the additional oxygen suppliedautomatically b the lungpower, does not take its way t lrough the pressure reducing valve g.

I claim: 1

. A self-contained breathing device adapted to prevent the breathing air from being overcharged with nitrogen, comprising in combination an air circuit system, a collapsible breathing bag in said system, an oxygen container, a reducing valve, a high-pressure connection from said container to the inlet side of said reducing valve, a continuously 0 en connection from the outlet side of said re ucing valve to said air circuit system constructed and arranged to continuously pass oxygen for revivifying the breathing a r into said system in a predetermined constant amount per unit of time and an oxygen suppl controlling device connected directly. wit said reducing valve connection and with said breathing bag independently of said con tinuously open connection and automatically operated by inspiration whereby additional oxygen is periodically supplied to the air circuit system in accordance with the breathing requirements prevailing at the time, said device'comprising an auxiliary breathing bag having a collapsible wall, the said wall having a substantial area exposed to the atmosphere, a movable member therein adapted to be actuated by movement of said wall, and a valve controlled by said movable member. a ALEXANDER BERNHARD onion; 

